Caster



ASTER.. APPL|cAT|oN- FILED mmz. 1921.

Patented rime 20, 1922;

' INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

ALBERT B. DISS, OF NEWARK, NEX/V J'RSEY, ASSVGNOR TO THE BASSICK COMPANY, 0F

' IBRIDGEPOR-T, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

CASTER.

Specification of Letters Patent. Paign'ted June 20, 1922 Application filed January 2S, 1921. Serial No. 40,559.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, ALBERT B. Diss, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Newark, county of Essex, and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Casters; and

do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to furnit-ure leg so as to be concealed from' view.

As is well known the furniture is made by one manufacturer and the caster by another, and while attempts have been made to match up the colors of the two metals, still this has proven to be difficult and in numbers of instances has failed, consequently the objection occurs of a vari-colored effect which is especially fatal in the instance of high grade and costly furniture.

A further object of the invention is to provide improved means formed separate from the socket for holding the pintle in the socket to thereby eliminate the usual intelgral indented parts formed in the socket. These indented parts through continued withdrawal and insertion of the pintle become flattened and lose their effectiveness, in the instance of the socket being made of soft metal and in instance of hard metal, the formation of the indentations frequently results in distortion of the socket.

In the drawings Figure l, is a vertical sectional view of the invention;

Figure 2, is a section on line @f2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3, is a top plan view of the bottom plate of the caster prior to bending the spurs outwardly therefrom and Figure 4, is a side elevation of Figure 3 with the spurs bent outwardly.

In proceeding in accordance with the present invention, a socket l is provided and secured at 2 to a bottom plate 3. Spring arms or fingers 4 of an approximately U- formation are employed which abut the inner surface of the furniture leg L, the U- structure being secured by a rivet 5 to the top of the socket, the rivet seating on top of the head f6 of the pintle 7, thus forming a top-bearing type of caster. i

rlhe invention in one of itsr two aspects resides in the bottoni plate 3 which is of t-he same diameter as that of the leg bottom and which seats flat and snugly against the bottom'end of the leg and flush with the periphery of the leg, so that theV periphery only of the plate is exposed.' Thus even thoughldissimilarly colored metals of the leg and plate may/be used, the difference is not noticeable. ln order to hold theplate against lateral movement relative vto the leg, upstanding fins or spurs 8 are lanced from this bottom plate at a short distance from the perimeter of the latter so thatwhen the socket member is inserted within the leg these upstanding fins or spurs will snugly engage the inner circumference of the leg and thereby hold the socket member firmly as against swaying.

The upstanding fins or spurs can `be lanced from the bottom plate or they might be secured thereto so as to be rigid therewith in any suitable manner, it being noted that with their use there is nothing to be seen at the bottom of the furniture leg except the leg itself, the spurs being concealed within the leg as distinguished from the practice of using plate attaching means exteriorly of the leg'and consequently exposed.

As is apparent from Figure l, of the drawings,lthe outer edges of the spurs have tight friction engagement with the inner circumference of the leg, thereby effectively securing the caster in place.

By virtue of the inverted V-formations of the spurs, it will be obvious that same are easily introduced into the leg.

The second aspect of the invention, resides in the provision of a freely suspended U-shaped spring member 9, the ends of which freely engage in diametrically opposed openings lO formed in the socket 1 and which normally engage beneath the pintle head 6 as depicted in Figure 1, to thereby lock the pintle as against accidental withdrawal.

Usually a pair of indentations has been made in opposite sides of the socket in order to accomplish this same result, but there is such a difference in the metal of a socket that these indentations would frequently distort thesocket or else the metal would spring members.

be so soft that the constant insertion and withdrawal of therpntle would iron out the ldents so that there would be nothing to hold the pintle. y

In the present structure the U or horseshoe shaped spring is of high grade spring quality and its extremities extend loosely through opposite holes in the socket, and when the pintle is inserted it spreads 'these extremities slightly, the latter then recovering andlocking the pintle as soon as the head of the latter has passed beyond the spective of the particular form of caster em# y ployed. Y

What is claimed is:

1. In a caster, a bottom plate of substantially the same diameter as that of the furniture leg and formed t0 seat against the lower end of the leg, and spurs carried by the plate and engaged with the inner circumference of the leg to be thereby concealed and to hold the plate against lateral movementv relative to the leg, said spurs being of inverted ll-formation so as to be wedged into engagement with the leg,

2. In' a caster, a socket having opposed openings, a pintle having a head, and an approximately U-shaped spring having its free ends extending through. the openings and extending into the socket interior so as to allow the head to be moved therepast.

3. ln a caster, asocket having opposed openings, a pintle having a head, andmeans movable in the openings and extending into the socket to allow the head to be moved therepast.

4L. In a caster, a socket,` a pintle having Y a head, and spring means formed independent of the socket and extending therein to allow the head to be moved therepast.`

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

EDITH JOHNSTON,

W. R. BAssICK. 

